


“I’m supposed to be the best man. Which is sort of mildly hilarious.”

by TwoKidsInATrenchCoat



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies) RPF
Genre: Brothers bonding, Constructive Criticism Welcome, F/M, Newt still meets Tina when she is arresting him, The stuff with Grindelwald never happened, Tina is still an auror, newt and leta are PLATONIC, wedding au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25132090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat/pseuds/TwoKidsInATrenchCoat
Summary: Wedding AU where Grindelwald never happened. Newt has been asked by his brother to be his best man and with the encouragement of his girlfriend, Tina Goldstein, he accepts the offer.
Relationships: Leta Lestrange & Newt Scamander, Leta Lestrange & Theseus Scamander, Leta Lestrange/Theseus Scamander, Newt Scamander & Theseus Scamander, Tina Goldstein & Newt Scamander, Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander
Comments: 3
Kudos: 60





	“I’m supposed to be the best man. Which is sort of mildly hilarious.”

As soon as Newt came in through the door and Tina knew something was wrong. He seemed very agitated and even a bit upset.

He paced back and forth in the living room, muttering unintelligibly to himself, sometimes dragging his hands across his face or running his fingers through his messy hair.

Tina watched him silently from the living room couch. She wasn’t sure if he even knew she was there. He eventually sat down on the couch next to Tina and continued to mummer, his eyes fixated on the wall straight ahead of him.

“Hi,” Tina said, once she had determined that he indeed didn’t know she was there.

“AH!” Newt jumped, letting out an undignified sherik, confirming Tina’s suspicion. Newt had the decency to look sheepish when he realized that Tina must have been there the whole time.

“Hey Tina,” he greeted with a quick peck on the cheek. There was a pause. “Well I better be going,” he tried to say inconspicuously, moving toward the basement door, clearly trying to escape having to explain himself and his little display, “I’m sure that the beasts are hungry by now.”

Tina caught his wrist and dragged him back to the couch, “You and I both know that feeding time isn’t for another hour.” Newt sighed, knowing that there was no getting out of this. “Now what’s wrong?” Tina asked once they sat back down.

“It’s my brother,” Newt finally admitted.

“What happened this time?” she asked.

“He’s getting married.”

“Okay? I thought you already knew that,” Tina said confused. It was true. Theseus and Leta had recently announced their engagement at the most recent Scamander family reunion. While Newt hadn’t even attended that party, word still got around fast. Pretty much every wizard in London knew about the engagement if the magazines were anything to go by.

“Yes, I do, but it’s about what happened today. My brother had forced me to go out to lunch with him.”

“How tragic,” Tina replied dryly.

“Exactly! And, you see, I could tell that he wanted something. He gets this look in his eye like how the niffler will get a look in his eye when he wants something. Anyways, after a couple of his attempts at small talk, he asked me…” Newt let out another sigh of distress, “He asked me…”

Tina could feel her stomach curl. Had Newt seriously been asked by his own brother not to come to the wedding? Tina reached out a hand in sympathy, “Oh Newt-”

“He asked me to be his best man.”

“...What?”

“I know, right? That’s what I said.”

“And what did you say after that?” Tina asked, already having a good idea of what Newt did.

“That I would think about it, and then I left and immediately came here,” Newt finished.

“I have a question,” Tina began, “I know that you and your brother don’t always get along the best. But you had seemed so upset when you first came in here. Why?”

“Because my brother is not a loser.”

Tina snickered at the bold declaration, “And what do you mean by that?”

“He has friends. Friends that surely spend more time around than me. Friends that most definitely have a less complicated relationship with him. So  _ why _ would he ask  _ me _ to be his best man? It’s sort of mildly hilarious.”

Tina hummed in acknowledgment. Newt brought up a good point, but she also didn’t want to outright agree with him. She had never met Theseus Scamander, but she’d heard enough to get the general picture. He was everything that Newt wasn’t. Perfectly able to socialize, a hugger, and well respected in the wizarding world.

But...he also seemed kind. Tina had heard about Theseus’ constant endeavor to get his brother to come to dinner. Yet, despite the amount of times Newt refused the offer (which was every time), Theseus kept on trying. It kind of reminded her of how Newt would keep on trying to help a beast until it began to warm up to him.

Tina smiled to herself at the realization that the two brothers, who seemed to be complete opposites, may have more in common than Newt will acknowledge.

“Well,” Tina started, “And this is just my personal opinion, I think you should do it.”

Newt looked at her incredulously, “What?”

“It sounds like it would be fun,” Tina tried to shrug casually.

“No, it sounds like the exact opposite of fun,” Newt objected, unsure of what his girlfriend had come down with, “I would have to help with the wedding outfits, go to rehearsals, help with the gifts,  _ make a toast _ ,” Newt paused so that Tina could properly let that horrifying responsibility sink in. Despite her not seeming too distressed by it, he continued, “I’d have to organize the bachelor party. You remember that I’m not a fan of parties right?”

Tina did know that. She had tried to encourage Newt to go to the family reunion where Theseus and Leta would announce their engagement, but she also knew that social events tended to overstimulate her boyfriend. Besides, as much as people liked to say otherwise, he was an adult, she couldn’t force him to do anything.

She had originally wanted to come along with him to the reunion, but Newt and Tina had decided to keep their relationship between the two of them (besides Jacob and Queenie of course). But they had been dating for about a year now. The two of them constantly writing or coming over to see each other since they’d met in New York.

Tina’s workaholic attitude turned out to have paid off since Tina had wracked up multiple paid vacation days, and she was currently using some of them (although she had plenty more) to visit her boyfriend in London.

“Well, I’m just saying, what if we did it together? I’ve had to organize a bunch of events for Mrs. Esposito in the past. I’ve got some experience.”

Newt rightfully gave her a weird look. “Tina? Why are you so intent on helping me be the best man at my brother’s wedding? It’s a little weird,” Newt said that last sentence in a whisper.

Tina sighed, “I just can’t help but notice that you’re brother is trying very hard and you keep on rejecting him. It would be a nice thing to do for him and you’d be pulling through when it counted most.”

Newt just gave her a confused look in response.

“It’s just that I’ve noticed that you keep on pushing him away and I'm worried that one day he’ll take the hint. I lost most of my family and I’d hate for you to lose yours when you have the chance to salvage it,” Tina explained, “I’m not saying that you two have to be best friends, but you have the opportunity to be brothers instead of strangers.”

Newt sighed through his nose, “I still don’t know about this.”

Tina took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, “We could do it together?”

Newt seemed to warm up to the idea if only because he’d get to do something together with his girlfriend. “Is Theseus going to know that you're helping me?” he questioned.

“Are you ready for everyone to know about us?”

“Maybe?” Newt said weakly, clearly not ready.

Tina smiled in understanding, “I’ll work behind the scenes for now.”

\--------------------------------------------

Theseus was overjoyed to hear that Newt would be his best man. He invited Newt to help figure out some different factors of the wedding with Leta and himself.

Newt found himself outside of a shop that specializes in wedding attire, when he arrived at the address he had been given. He spotted the couple inside, and as Newt approached, he could see Leta and Theseus disagreeing about something.

Before Newt had joined them, Theseus was pulled aside by somebody else to discuss something that Newt was out of earshot to hear.

Newt finally reached Leta. The lady in question smiled at her childhood best friend, “Oh hello Newt, it’s lovely to see you again.”

“Hi Leta, it’s nice to see you too,” Newt said, “I uh couldn’t help but notice you two were disagreeing about something when I came in here. Do I need to take my brother outside and have a word with him?”

Leta rolled her eyes at Newt, smiling nonetheless, “No, don’t worry. We were just making a compromise on the music.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m sure,” Leta assured, “You know, sometimes it feels like you’re my brother, and you’re just looking for an excuse to beat up Theseus if he hurts me.”

“Well, I don’t know about beating him up-, but you were practically my sister in Hogwarts and you’re about to become my sister in law.”

Leta smirked at him, “Do you plan to give him the talk. That if he hurts me in any way, then he’ll have to answer to you?” Leta looked over at her fiance lovingly.

“I’m sorely tempted,” Newt said while Leta was still staring as Theseus, “But I don’t think it’ll be necessary considering how you’re looking at him. Would you like a handkerchief for your drool?”

Leta, realizing that she had indeed been staring at her fiance. She snapped out of it and lightly wacked Newt on the shoulder, “Oh shut up!” She let out a happy sigh and resumed her ladylike posture, “In any case, I’m happy that you're going to be my brother,” she smiled at him.

Newt found himself genuinely smiling back.

Eventually, Theseus got back from whatever part of the wedding he was planning. They were able to get a lot done with Leta acting as a moderator, so that conversation flowed smoothly between the two brothers.

Newt was pleasantly surprised to find out that he didn’t have too much to plan since Leta and Theseus already had a general idea of exactly how they wanted everything.

They’d brought him to the shop to help pick out the groomsmen outfits, while Leta was still looking at different fabric to narrow down what she wanted for her wedding dress.

So while she did that, the Scamander brothers went over to different fabric samples to decide on a color. “I’ve narrowed it down to these,” Theseus told Newt while gesturing to a small tray of fabric samples, “Do you have a preference for any color?”

There were six colors to choose from, but one stuck out to Newt much more than any of the others. It was silver, but didn’t shine too brightly. It was somehow fancy, yet modest. It also helped that it reminded him of the beautiful silver of the demiguise.

“Oh I don’t really know,” Newt tried to say casually. But Theseus had already spotted Newt eyeing that specific fabric sample.

“You like the silver one don’t you,” Theseus asked rhetorically.

“Maybe, just a little,” Newt forced himself to admit.

Theseus smiled, slightly amused, “I’m partial to it myself.” So that’s how he ended up choosing the silver.

While Theseus told the tailor which color he picked, Newt stayed behind and tried to process what had just transpired. He had been expecting to be shut down if he actually tried to give his input, yet it seemed that his brother actually wanted to know what he thought. The prospect seemed ridiculous yet appeared to be reality.

Once Theseus got back, Leta was still choosing. Theseus rolled his eyes lovingly at his bride to be and invited Newt to sit down on the bench while they waited.

Theseus began to talk about all the different parts of the wedding that Newt didn’t know about yet, while Newt listened. The younger brother preferred it that way. Talking was never his strong suit. 

Besides, it was nice to listen to his brother talk. Newt would never admit it, but he really liked the sound of Theseus’ voice. He remembered when they were younger and closer, when Theseus had got back from his first semester at Hogwarts and excitedly told Newt about everything that went on there.

Newt had only really paid attention when his brother talked about Care of Magical Creatures, but he listened to Theseus the whole time as he described Hogwarts in detail. There was something just so calming and rhythmic about his voice that grounded the young boy.

Newt snapped out of his memory when he realized he wasn’t paying attention. Fortunately Theseus was so caught up in his own words that he didn’t seem to notice that Newt had zoned out for a minute.

Talking about all the different aspects of the wedding appeared to also be good for Theseus, and he seemed to relax as he said everything aloud. 

Fortunately, they ran out of time before Theseus could turn the conversation to Newt and ask him about his life.

\--------------------------------------------

When Newt got home, he happily recounted the whole evening to Tina. Tina was more than happy to hear that Newt had been able to maintain a civil conversation with his brother. Some might have previously thought that it was impossible. She smiled encouragingly at him, proud that he was making an attempt to spend time with his brother.

Then, the couple got to work on the different best man duties, starting with the bachelor party. Tina wasn’t kidding when she said that she had experience planning events. She was able to break everything down into manageable chunks and before Newt knew it, they had selected a suitable location and with a really quick phone call on Newt’s part to get Theseus’ blessing, they made a reservation for the night before the wedding.

“I’m surprised you don’t go to parties more often. You’re so good at planning them,” Newt told her.

“I’m good at planning events. Not going to them,” Tina admitted.

“Well, I was hoping that you could make an exception for one event. Would you come as my plus one to the wedding?” Newt shyly held up his invitation, where the box saying that he was bringing a plus one had yet to be checked.

Tina was surprised, but she supposed she shouldn’t have been. It was about time that they stopped trying to hide their relationship. “I’d love to,” she smiled at her boyfriend. Newt grinned and happily checked the box.

When discussing the logistics, they agreed that if anyone asked, they would be honest that she was his girlfriend, but they wouldn’t be too loud about it. “After all, people have been saying that I’d never get a girlfriend for years. This will probably blow their minds,” Newt told her. Tina snickered at the image of people fainting at the sight of the two of them.

After taking care of a few more responsibilities, they got to the last thing they had on their to-do list, which was picking out their wedding gift for the bride and groom.   
  


After convincing Newt that they couldn’t give them an animal no matter how useful it would be for the newlyweds to practice being parents for their eventual human child, they settled on some mandrake flowers. The purple flowers really were quite beautiful when not attached to a screaming plant child.

So when they bought some the next day, Tina was holding the bouquet in her arms. “Perfect,” she heard Newt say. But when she looked up at him, she saw that he wasn’t looking at the flowers, he was looking at her.

\--------------------------------------------

It was the night of the bachelor party. It was held at a local pub and everything was in full swing. People were socializing, having a few drinks, and saying no to a few more drinks in the hopes of not being totally hungover on the day of the wedding tomorrow.

Newt stuck to the sidelines, nursing his butterbeer, but there was still something on his mind. Specifically, one question he had for his brother.

Coincidentally, once Theseus had managed to escape his other groomsmen, the first thing he did was approach Newt. They faced each other. “I have something to ask you,” they said at the same time.

Theseus laughed and told Newt that he could go first.

So Newt got to the point, “Why do you continuously invite me to dinner and what-not when I continuously refuse? Why do you keep on trying?”

Theseus looked at him strangely, “Because you’re my brother. I like spending time with you.”

“Some brother I’ve been,” Newt said, growing exasperated, “I’ve constantly shut you out, yet you just keep on trying and I just-I just don’t understand you!”

Theseus looked down at the ground. “Blinkered,” he muttered after a pause.

“What?”

His older brother looked up at him and smiled, not even the slightest bit hurt by Newt’s words, “You are so blinkered.”

Newt was too confused to be insulted that his brother had used the term he used on people who were narrow minded about beasts.

Seeing Newt’s confounded expression, Theseus elaborated, “Let me put it this way. You see me the way other people see beasts. Strange, unusual, like it’s impossible to understand them.”

“Oh,” Newt said dumbly. His brother was making a bit of sense.

“You don’t understand me, so you push me away like the people do with your beasts. But you’ve shown that with time beasts and humans can learn to understand each other. I want us to understand each other,” Theseus continued, “And I said it before, but I’ll say it again, you’re my brother, okay? I’ll never stop trying.”

Newt was clearly touched by his words and Theseus instinctively tried to go in for a hug, but stopped himself, “Right, sorry, go light on the hugging.”

Newt shrugged, “Well I can make an exception.” Theseus smiled brightly and pulled him into a tight hug.

As they were pulling away, Newt remembered something, “Oh right, didn’t you have something that you wanted to ask me about too?”

Theseus got a mischievous look in his eye that automatically made Newt nervous. The older brother pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was one of the wedding invitations and upon closer inspection Newt realized that it was his own invitation.

He was confused again, “What? Do they no longer offer salad. Because I’m totally fine with switching to soup.”

“No, no, no. It’s not that,” Theseus assured, “I just noticed that you put down that you would be bringing a plus one.”

Normally all the blood would drain from Newt’s face if he was caught in an embarrassing situation like this and he would probably run. But, to his surprise, he didn’t feel that way. Instead, a lot of blood rushed to his face as he blushed. Despite wordlessly confirming Theseus’ suspicions, Newt didn’t want to leave. He was embarrassed at having been caught, but he didn’t want to get away from his brother. He wanted to stay. It was a weird feeling.

Theseus grinned at his little brother, “You have somebody! What’s their name? Do I know them?”

Newt fought back down his blush, “Come on. Why are we talking about  _ my _ love life at  _ your _ bachelor party?” 

Theseus rolled his eyes at his brother’s attempt to escape. Newt sighed when he realized there was no getting out of this. Theseus would meet her at the wedding tomorrow, there wasn’t a point in trying to hide it any longer.

“Her name is Tina, Tina Goldstein. She’s an American auror. We met a little over a year ago when she was arresting me because she was suspicious of the creatures in my case.”

“How romantic,” Theseus snickered good naturedly, “Well I look forward to meeting her tomorrow.” 

Newt smiled back and was pleasantly surprised that he was looking forward to tomorrow as well. Not because he’d have to talk to people of course. Goodness no. But just the prospect of getting to spend time with Tina, Leta, and...his brother. It all sounded fun. He wanted to go.

\--------------------------------------------

Today was the day. It was only a few hours until the ceremony began. People were zipping around, helping the bride get ready in one room; while Newt, Theseus, and the groomsmen got ready in another.

Theseus was pacing around nervously and Newt was worried that they were going to have to physically hold him back from triple checking everything in the wedding. “One more time couldn’t hurt,” Theseus tried. Newt forced his brother to sit down.

“Relax. We’ve already checked that everything is in place. Trust me,” Newt rolled his eyes at his brother’s worrying, “I know that everything is in place because Tina had stopped by when you were starting to get ready. The only person I know that’s a bigger stickler than you is her. If she says it’s fine, then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Theseus did seem to relax a bit once he realized that stressing wouldn’t help. “I can’t wait to meet Tina,” Theseus chuckled, “She sounds fantastic.”

“She is,” Newt assured, fighting off his blush.

\--------------------------------------------

Before Newt knew it, he was greeting guests into the venue with the other groomsmen. Tina arrived, Newt tagged out with another groomsman and walked her in.

Tina stared at the venue in wonder. “You were just here a few hours ago,” Newt chuckled.

Tina smiled, “Yeah, but now I’m not inspecting it and can just enjoy it with you.”

They smiled happily at each other.

After a pause, Tina continued, “However if we get married, I just want to clarify that we should just do something small. There is no way that I would want to subject us to this sort of stress.”

Newt nodded, relieved, “Oh most definitely. I have no idea why people would put themselves through this much stress and planning.”

They continued walking and Newt couldn’t help but smile at the venue and the guest that had begun to come in. As much as he didn’t want it for himself, he was very happy that his brother and childhood best friend got to have their dream wedding.

\--------------------------------------------

The ceremony began and Newt stood next to, but slightly behind his brother. He didn’t feel very comfortable with all the eyes on him, even though he knew that they were probably looking at Theseus.

He kept his eyes focused on Tina, who was sitting in the audience. She smiled back at him.

Then Leta walked down the aisle and Newt felt so happy for her. Leta was not typically a happy person. She had been through so much suffering. Most times when she smiled it was forced or faked. The only genuine smiles he’d seen from her were from their time at Hogwarts and when she had started dating Theseus. Now, as she walked down the aisle, she looked absolutely ecstatic

The ceremony went on. Vows were exchanged, rings were put on, and tears were shed.

Then, Newt went off to the reception and forced himself to socialize. He found that it was easier with Tina by his side even if she wasn’t the greatest conversationalist either.

They all sat down at their respective tables for dinner, Newt and Tina sitting with the bride and groom, along with a few other people that Newt couldn't even begin to pay attention to because he was about to stand up and give a toast. He took a deep breath and Tina squeezed his hand encouragingly.

Once he grabbed everyone’s attention with the clinking of his glass, he began:

“I’m so happy that Leta is now my sister, but what many here may not know is that Leta has practically been my sister since the days where we were friends at Hogwarts. We looked out for each other and I guess, even now, we still do.

“Leta, I don’t know if you recall, but we had a conversation a week or two ago. You said that I was acting too much like you’re big brother and asked me if I was going to tell Theseus that if he hurt you in any way that I was going to beat him up.”

The audience laughed and Newt smiled and pushed forward, “Well, I don’t actually plan to do that. Because as you already know; and as I’ve come to realize; my brother is the bravest, smartest, and kindest person I know,” Newt said these final words looking directly at his brother.

“And I know that you two are going to make eachother extremely happy. So a toast to the bride and groom. And a toast to happiness,” Newt raised his glass, everyone else toasted as well and Newt sat back down smiling.

The speech was short and sweet, but he and Tina had worked hard on it, so he was very happy that he managed to get through it with minimal stuttering. When Newt sat back down across from Theseus, he turned to his brother who looked so happy. “You did great,” Theseus told him (despite the speech including a bit about Newt threatening to beat him up) and for once, Newt actually believed it.

Once the all speeches had been made and everybody was enjoying dinner, Newt finally got the chance to introduce Tina properly to Leta and Theseus.

Even Tina seemed a bit nervous when she looked at the newlyweds. Leta and Theseus saw that Newt was about to introduce Tina and waited patiently for the younger couple to steel their nerves.

Newt started, “Hey, uh, by the way, this is my girlfriend Tina, Tina Goldstein.”

“Tina, it’s so good to meet you,” Theseus smiled warmly, “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Newt had told Tina that Theseus had found out about their relationship at the bachelor party, but she didn’t know how the conversation had gone. She smiled mischievously at Newt and turned back to Theseus, “Oh? What did he say? I’d love to know how Newt talks about me when I’m not around.”

“He hasn’t told me too much. You’re a hardworking auror from America and that you two met in New York when you were arresting him.”

Leta snickered beside her husband, “How romantic.”

Newt rolled his eyes, flushing slightly. Those two were made for eachother.

\--------------------------------------------

The dancing began and that’s when Newt knew that he was going to have to take a break. Too many people touching him, too much noise. Tina, who had learned the signs of when things were becoming too much for Newt, noticed this and they walked outside together.

They sat on a stone bench outside and enjoyed the cool, crisp night air.

Tina was looking at the stars and Newt saw them reflected in her eyes and found that he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.

Tina caught him staring, but didn’t seem to mind. “Do you want to go back in?” she asked, seeing that he was more comfortable now.

Newt could hear another song beginning to play from inside, “Let’s stay out here for one more song.”

Tina nodded and was about to go back to looking at the sky when Newt interrupted, “I uh what I-I met to say was that I would like to dance...out here...with you. Doyouwanttodancewithme?”

“Yes,” Tina smiled, and Newt tried not to get jealous of her way with words. 

So they danced underneath the stars, neither of them were particularly good at it, but it hardly seemed to matter. They continued to grin at each other, seeing the stars reflected in each other's eyes.

  
  



End file.
